Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson

I’m not sure why,
but the piano artistry of Oscar Peterson, particularly the one on display in
his Verve recording – The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson – conjures up flights of fancy in my mind while listening to it.

His version of
Dizzy Gillespie’s Con Alma [which
translates to “with soul”]has always
seemed to bring imagery of wild animals into focus so I thought it might be
fun to develop a video montage of animals in the wild using his interpretation of this tune as a
soundtrack.

After many years
with guitarists Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis, Oscar had decided to bring in Ed
Thigpen on drums and Edmund’s brilliant playing in all facets of the drum kit
added different coloring and sonorities to the trio’s music.

Here’s more
about Oscar and his career in a brief piece about him by Gene Lees, one of Oscar’s closest friends and a
fellow Canadian, as excerpted from Jazz Lives: A 100 Portraits in Jazz [with
photographs by John Reeves].

“Hank Jones has
said, "Oscar Peterson is head and shoulders above any pianist alive today.
Oscar is at the apex. He is the crowning ruler of all the pianists in the jazz
world. No question about it." Andre Previn says emphatically, "He is
the best! When I surveyed seventy
pianists on the subject of jazz piano, the close winners in the categories of
personal favorite and "best" pianist were Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and
Oscar Peterson. Oscar was Bill's favor­ite pianist. He is Roger Kellaway's favorite pianist. Dizzy
Gillespie cites him as one of his favorite pianists to play with. Critic Leonard Feather said that
if he were to be reincarnated, he would want to come back as Oscar Peterson.

Peterson is the
son of a Montreal rail­way porter and former ship's bos'n
who taught music to his five children. One of them was his daughter Daisy, who
then became Oscar's teacher. Oscar went on to study with Paul de Marky, a Hungarian
pianist who had studied in Budapest with Istvan Toman, whose teacher in turn
was Franz Liszt. Oscar was already well known in Canada when he burst on the rest of the world in
1949 during a Jazz at the Phil­harmonic concert at Carnegie Hall. Since then,
he has been at the pinnacle of jazz piano, a virtuoso whose playing has roots
in the bravura of Liszt.

Oscar has led
trios since the early 1950s, played solo recitals all over the world, explored
the world of electronic music, and worked extensively with young peo­ple. Now
he dedicates himself more and more to composition. Oscar suffered the slings
and snubs of outrageous racism in Montreal in his youth. This has led him to take a
staunch public stand against racism in Canada and elsewhere. In 1973 he was invested as
a Companion of the Order of Canada, and afterwards told me almost shyly,
"I never thought my country would honor me this way.” It continues to do
so. In 1991 he was appointed Chancellor of York University in Toronto and received a Toronto Arts Award for
lifetime musical achievement. At my last count he had ten honorary doctorates
in music.”